Gary Vaynerchuk has set a new benchmark for the publishing industry with the launch of his new book while leveraging the potential of NFTs
The Belarusian-American entrepreneur, author, speaker, and now an NFT innovator Gary Vaynerchuk pre-launched his new book Twelve and a half on 27th Aug 21, due for release in Nov 2021. The book explores the thirteen essential emotional skills (such as empathy and self-awareness) integral to life, business and success and provides readers with critical tools to acquire and develop these traits.
But it was no ordinary pre-sale. GaryVee leveraged the potential of NFTs in the most innovative way possible by promising an NFT to anyone who purchases his books in sets of 12 within a given timeframe of 24 hrs.
And guess what?
The book became an Amazon bestseller in multiple countries within a day of its pre-launch. More than one million copies were sold before the release. So much so that Harper Collins, the book publisher, had to delay the book’s release by two weeks to allow more time to print the copies.
The entire announcement details and the aftermath of the pre-sale are in this article.
Book Games NFT
This week, Gary and his team released the Book Games NFT to fulfil the promise they made in Aug 2021. The NFT drop via ImmutableX on the VeeFriends website went smooth with a few initial glitches. But for a drop of this size, it was commendable.
The Book Games NFTs is a collection of about 125k NFTs claimed randomly by eligible participants, those who bought twelve and a half books during the 24 hrs pre-sale window in Aug. I was fortunate enough to claim NFTs with six skills including patience, accountability and self-awareness.
The team released several blog tutorials leading up to the launch to ensure that the entire community learns the required tech and is well versed with the IMX and Tokentrove platforms before the drop.
Why Is It Called Book Games?
Book Games NFT is not just a random name. These are actual strategy games of trading and burning NFTs, that Gary intends to run forever.
Each token comes with 1 of 16 unique hand-drawn artwork called attributes that are based on traits such as empathy, curiosity and optimism, as shown below. Every token also has a unique background called Spectacular (such as Lava, Gold as shown below).
Currently, only VeeFriends NFT holders are eligible to attend Veecon, a multi-day superconference with an extraordinary lineup of speakers, collaborative experiences and, an opportunity to network with a self-driven and like-minded community. However, as a holder of Book Games NFT, you can exchange your tokens for a ticket to Veecon. And that is where the games begin!
The Veecon tickets have different tiers named after the spectacular rarities (see image above) such as Lava, Gold, Bubble Gum etc. To be eligible for the Lava 2022 VeeCon ticket on the Book Games Exchange, you must have all 13 unique Book Games tokens in Lava Spectacular rarity. In simple terms, you need to have all 13 NFTs shown in the first column of the above image.
It may not be feasible for everyone to afford 13 NFTs, but if you are keen to attend Veecon, it is much cheaper than buying a VeeFriends token.
One can also burn a specified number of Book Games tokens to exchange them with another NFT of their choice, as shown above. Notice that some of them have already been exchanged. Given the prices will fluctuate from time to time, it could be a lucrative opportunity if you are smart enough to see them through.
The VeeFriends Series 2 Advantage
GaryVee plans to release the second generation series of his NFT project VeeFriends sometime in the second quarter of 2022. Initially, Gary had hinted that those who own VeeFriends or Book Games NFT have an advantage in getting priority access to VeeFriends Series 2.
However, after the release, Gary announced that Book Games NFT holders get a huge advantage for series 2 access. The eligible holders will get a Friends Pass that gives them a 12 and a half-day advantage to minting VeeFriends Series 2.
The exact criteria is still a mystery, but Gary keeps dropping hints in the Discord. I am sure it will be something fun and interesting. It is just one of many games, and knowing Gary, I am excited to see what comes next.
Was It Worth Buying 12 Books for an NFT?
The magical question everyone wants to know. Was it worth going through the trouble of ordering books in sets of twelve for claiming Book Games NFTs?
Well, the short answer is one can only realise the true value of this in the long run. Gary has proved himself time and again not just as an entrepreneur but also as an NFT creator. The VeeFriends NFT project has been a huge success financially for anyone who minted the NFTs in May last year.
If we assess the short term ROI for this, every buyer received 12 physical copies of Twelve and a Half book along with a randomly assigned Book Games NFT.
The floor price, i.e. the minimum sale price of an NFT after about 18 hours of the launch, was $562 (as shown below). Some people got lucky and claimed rare NFTs and sold them for $10,000+.
You can see that the volume until that time was already about 4047 ETH (~$12 Mn) with the highest sale of 63.3 ETH (~$190K), so clearly people were actively trading Book Games NFTs.
For twelve copies of books that cost $200–450, depending on your location, one could have easily made some profit by selling their NFT, effectively receiving the books for free. If you are smart enough, you can sell those books on eBay at half price and make even more profits.
So, I feel that it was worth the effort. Long term, this project has immense potential depending on how things pan out. But with the way GaryVee has operated so far, I have high hopes for this project.
A New Benchmark for the Publishing Industry
Never before in the history of book publishing has someone sold so many books in such a short period while giving a positive return on investment (ROI) to its readers from Day one.
The execution was fairly complex, and GaryVee had the advantage of having a big team supporting him, so it may not be everyone’s cup of tea. But it has the potential to revolutionise the publishing industry forever. It was a mammoth challenge, and GaryVee once again executed with finesse.